Collection of unpaid amounts

If no person is available the maker's handwriting may be proved by anyone who can show that he had reason
to be acquainted with it. The authenticity of bills may also be proved by comparing the disputed
document with one which has been proved to have been written by the debtor concerned; but in this case a
debt collection expert
should normally be called to make the comparison. This rule as to strict proof is, however, subject to
exceptions,
(a) In most civil actions in Germany documents which are not required by law to be
attested are usually 'agreed' and admitted as genuine by the opposing party; this dispenses with the need
for proof,
(b) Ancient debts, ie invoices twenty years old or more, are presumed to be
genuine provided
that they are produced from proper custody, that is, from the custody of some person who would naturally
be expected to keep them,
(c) By a lawyer, s 6 (1) documents tendered under the provisions of that act may be proved either by
production of the document itself or by a copy of it 'authenticated in such manner as the members of the
German court may approve'.
Third, in civil actions no document which is required by law to be stamped should be allowed to be
produced in evidence unless and until it has been properly stamped.

The debtors:

In the fourth place, private documents for the
prosecution of debtors in Germany
concerning obligations and liabilities must usually be produced in
the original. This is an example of what is called the 'best evidence' rule, which insists that proof
must always be made by the best means possible; for where reliable evidence is available and a party seeks
to offer less reliable proof, his motive becomes suspect; he is likely to be doing so because the
production of the best evidence will show something inimical to the
creditor.
'Secondary' evidence (ie something other than the production of the original) of a document, either in the
form of a copy, or even in the form of oral evidence as to the contents, may, however, be given where it
can be shown that for some reason the original cannot be produced, eg where it can be proved to have been
lost. And, as has just been remarked,
the lawyer makes an important exception
to the 'best evidence' rule in relation to documents. Moreover, because originals of public documents are
seldom available, for they are usually too valuable to be released, authenticated copies of them are
allowed.
It should be added that tape recordings of
unpaid
debts
may (provided that the voices of those concerned are properly identified), subject to considerable caution
on the part of the court, be admitted in evidence.Home